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1974-06-18 (06-19) - Utahime-05 docked to Rendezvous Target Vehicle-2 (video)

Phase 2 - 19 1974-03-13 - The Mercury flyby probe "Mio" (PLANET-D) was launched by an M-1B. The name, meaning "waterway," represented the journey it would take through interplanetary space and the solar wind, as it would conduct the first gravitational assist at Venus en route to Mercury. This would save propellant and Delta-v requirements by transferring some of Venus's orbital energy to change the spacecraft's velocity. The name also reflected the Chinese and Japanese names for Mercury, which meant "water star" (水星) as it represented one of the five elements in Chinese philosophy. The probe was due to arrive at Mercury in January 1975. 1974-06-18 - Utahime-05 was piloted by Marumi Nabatame to conduct the first orbital docking with the second Rendezvous Target Vehicle. This required the attachment of a small docking port at the end of the cylindrical structure that normally detached when the launch escape system was jettisoned. The procedure for carefully approaching the target, moving into position, and docking was partially assisted by computers to compensate for limited visibility from the capsule. Once docked, Nabatame performed an EVA to test satellite inspection and repair operations. Afterwards, she undocked from the RTV and returned to Earth about a day after launch.

1974-02-28 - Nozomi-2 orbits Mars

Phase 2 - 18 1973-01-04 to 1973-10-22 - Sakura-5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d were launched by M-1B rockets and their "Hakuba" hydrolox upper stages to form a new geostationary communications network spanning most of the globe. Advances in antennas made longer-range applications of communications satellites possible. The network was used to maintain almost-constant connections for future satellites launched into Earth orbit. It was also used for communications between places on Earth during emergencies, or to remote areas. Sakura-5a was positioned over Hatsunia and the western Pacific Ocean, 5b over the Middle East, 5c over the Atlantic Ocean, and 5d over the eastern Pacific Ocean. Sakura-5a (5b, 5c, and 5d) 1973-04-01 to 1973-04-08 - Utahime-04, Yuzuki Morita's second flight, was launched by a triple-core M-1A to perform the first crewed rendezvous. The reason why leading zeroes were used for human missions was that the number "4" could be pronounced similarly to the word for "death" (shi) in Hatsunese* (an alternate pronunciation for 4 was yon). The destination was the Rendezvous Target Vehicle (RTV-1) which had launched a week earlier by a single-core M-1A to a 300 kilometer orbit. It only consisted of the M-1A upper stage and a basic cylindrical structure with solar panels to keep the batteries alive. Utahime-04 launched into a 200 kilometer orbit and was behind the RTV, but since a lower orbit is faster, the capsule gradually caught up. It performed a transfer burn to intercept the RTV, then another burn to slow down relative to the target. Morita was assisted by radar systems and some visual aids to maneuver the capsule in front of the RTV and proceed forward as if to dock, stopping only a few meters short, then backing away. After station-keeping for about an hour, she initiated the Earth return sequence and splashed down almost 21 hours after launch. [*supposedly this is why the video game "Ace Combat 04" is specifically named that way, at least according to TV Tropes] (pretend that the capsule has forward-facing windows) 1973-08-05 to 1974-02-28 - Nozomi-2 or PLANET-C was HASDA's first Mars orbiter, launched by an M-1B rocket on a seven month journey. On 1974-02-28, the spacecraft arrived at Mars and inserted itself into a 300 by 3400 km polar orbit. It built an extensive map of the Red Planet as it observed craters, deep valleys, inactive volcanoes, polar ice caps made of frozen water and carbon dioxide, and dust storms. Implications of past liquid water were seen in what looked like dried out rivers and lakebeds. The upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and the magnetic and gravitational fields of Mars were also studied.

Cum historia mutat valde Razgriz revelat ipsum: Primum daemon scelestus est. Cum potentia sua Daemon fundet mortem in terram: Deinde moritur. Cum somnus finit, Razgriz surget iterum: Magnus heros est. (if you don't get it)

Phase 2 - 17 1972-04-17 - "Taiyou" was a spacecraft launched by a single-core M-1B to study the Sun's effects on the Earth's upper atmosphere (using an ultraviolet spectrometer), magnetic field, and plasma environment. It also tested a heavier and more sophisticated live camera. 1972-08-09 - Utahime-03, piloted by Akari Miura, tested the endurance capabilities of the spacecraft's life support systems. She spent over three days in orbit photographing the stars and Earth and recording her medical status, as the alkaline fuel cells produced power from the reserves of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, generating water in the process. Due to the small space of the capsule, a person could not psychologically handle being in there for longer periods of time. 1972-11-21 - M-1A launched Usagi-7, Hatsunia's second lunar orbiter. The probe had higher-resolution instruments compared to its predecessor, a slightly longer structure to hold these instruments, and spherical propellant tanks. It used the camera to select sites for future lunar lander probes.

The link says "access denied" now. edit: was PM'd the link on Discord, the file doesn't change the mass or add real fuels. I will have to figure that on my own.

How was the audio synchronized? (I'm guessing it's tedious)

(Hatsunese Space Program - Phase 2 - 16) 1972-01-09 - The M-1B rocket launches with a high-energy liquid hydrogen/oxygen upper stage Hatsunese Rockets 1952-1972

Phase 2 - 16 The M-1B launch vehicle replaced the hypergolic upper stages of the M-1A with the first Hatsunese cryogenic stage, which used the LE-05 engine fueled with liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The higher specific impulse (444 s vs 311 s) of the LE-05 meant that the payload capacity could be approximately doubled from 2800 to 4800 kg to low Earth orbit. Without boosters, up to 1900 kg could be launched. Only two stages were needed to send most payloads destined for geostationary transfer orbit and beyond, so the shorter version of the M-1A fairing could be used. The second stage was also longer due to hydrogen's low density, but was still light enough to be lifted by a single LE-04 core stage. The development and operation of such an engine and its associated infrastructure had significant costs, due to the very low temperatures of liquid hydrogen which made it difficult to store, but they were considered worth it for launching larger or longer-range interplanetary probes without completely redesigning the rest of the vehicle. Insulation and white paint were used to mitigate the evaporation and leakage of hydrogen when in orbit. edit: the hydrolox upper stage was nicknamed "Hakuba" (白馬) or "White Horse." 1972-01-09 - The M-1B launched the Neginohana-3 test satellite to geostationary orbit. The LE-05 ignited at almost 100 kilometers, with a flame that was faint but packed a lot of energy. It burned again to deliver the satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit. After separation, Neginohana-3 used two burns: the first burn to raise its orbit slightly so that by the next time it reached apogee, it was above East Asia and Australia.

That's a good space station. With that username and soundtrack, you might like the stuff in my signature, too.

1971-08-03 - Marumi Nabatame on EVA during the Utahime-02 mission (you can pretend there is a tether) (note: the Realistic Progression mod disables EVAs for the single-person capsule, like the real-life Mercury. To re-enable, I had to remove "ModuleNoEVA" from the "mk1pod_v2" part in [KSP folder]\GameData\RP-0\Tree\TREE-Parts.cfg)

Phase 2 - 15 1971-08-03 - Utahime-02 was piloted by Marumi Nabatame, who had Micronesian and Hatsunese ancestry. She performed Hatsunia's first extra-vehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, on the second orbit. Unlike the Mercury capsule, which had a hatch that was bolted on before launch, the Utahime capsule had a hatch which could be opened during flight. The EVA lasted over 30 minutes (mostly over Asia), with Marumi testing the flexibility and handling of her thin, lightweight spacesuit (similar to the ones used on the Gemini missions), which also had small thrusters using nitrogen gas. During the EVA, the vehicle was stabilized by the onboard avionics. After climbing back into the vehicle, she would stay in orbit until one day had elapsed to evaluate life support systems, before returning to Earth southeast of Negishima Space Center. The "Rocket Women," from left to right: Yuzuki Morita, Marumi Nabatame, and Akari Miura Marumi on EVA (you can pretend there is a tether) (note: the Realistic Progression mod disables EVAs for the single-person capsule, like the real-life Mercury. To re-enable, I had to remove "ModuleNoEVA" from the "mk1pod_v2" part in [KSP folder]\GameData\RP-0\Tree\TREE-Parts.cfg)

1970-09-12 - Utahime-01, the first crewed space mission, with Yuzuki Morita

1970-09-12 - Hatsunia's first astronaut

Phase 2 - 14 1970-09-12 - Utahime-01 was the first Hatsunese human spaceflight, launched on an M-1A rocket. With a mass of 2 tonnes, the Utahime (diva/songstress; literally "song princess") capsule was similar to Mercury and Gemini, and did not have much in capability compared to Apollo or Soyuz; it was only meant for the prestige and to prove technologies for larger, future spacecraft. The cone-shaped Core Module had enough room for one astronaut, several days worth of food, water, and oxygen, and a heat shield and parachutes to return from orbit safely. The Propulsion Module contained avionics, propellant, and thrusters, able to perform rendezvous and docking tests on future missions. Electrical power was provided by alkaline fuel cells running on liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which required insulation to prevent boil-off. Living space in the vehicle was cramped, so HASDA was looking for small, lightweight candidates who also had previous piloting experience. After going through several rigorous physiological tests, three candidates were selected. The first astronaut was Yuzuki Morita. At 24 years old, she was one of the youngest to go into space. The other two astronauts were Marumi Nabatame (who was of Hatsunese and Micronesian descent) and Akari Miura. Together, they were known as the "Rocket Women." The launch took place 39 minutes after noon (locally). The M-1A leapt off the pad with a sudden jolt, gradually increasing in acceleration as the fuel and oxidizer burned off. At booster separation, it reached up to 9-10 Gs for about a second. Yuzuki and the other astronauts had undergone special training to handle these high forces, and even they could only withstand it for a few seconds before losing consciousness. The second stage separated, and the launch escape system tower was jettisoned at three minutes after launch. The thrust of the LE-03B engine felt relatively calm compared to the wild roller coaster of the first stage and boosters. After 9 minutes, Utahime-01 had finally reached orbit. Yuzuki tested the reaction control systems to rotate the craft, and viewed the Earth 200 kilometers below through a tiny window. As she waited, she sometimes drank vegetable juice, which became HASDA's version of "Tang." After orbiting two times, Utahime-01 performed its de-orbit, separation, and re-entry maneuvers, re-entering with an offset center of mass at a certain angle of attack to generate a small amount of lift and reduce forces to just under 3 Gs. The parachutes deployed, and the capsule splashed down south of Saipan almost five hours after launch, having gone about 3 times around the Earth, to be recovered by a vessel of the Hatsunia Maritime Defense Force. With the completion of this mission, Hatsunia had become the third country to send a human into space. This was celebrated within the country and met with fanfare in Hatsunia's Asian and Western allies, but did not get as much attention as the American manned Moon landing that occurred in the year prior. It had some impact in that it was the second time a woman was launched into space (the USSR had, but not the US). In the US, this brought attention to the "Mercury 13", a group of 13 women who went through the same tests as the actual, all-male astronauts selected for the Mercury program. A few of them would be selected to go on the last few Apollo missions and visit the Skylab space station. The flight also encouraged the European space program to develop their own crewed spacecraft, using an evolved version of the "Europa" rocket based on the British Blue Streak missile with French and German upper stages. South China was also interested, but would need to overcome post-war restrictions on indigenous rocket and re-entry vehicle development. Some news media dubbed Hatsunese space travelers "uchuunauts," combining the Hatsunese term for "universe"/"outer space" with the Greek term for "sailor." Officially, HASDA used the term "astronaut," or uchuuhikoushi. September 12 also became known as "Space Day" in Hatsunia.

1969-04-17 - M-1A launches the "Nozomi" probe to Mars 1970-02-24 - Nozomi flies by Phobos and Mars Nozomi on the day side of Mars

Phase 2 - 13 In the 1960s, HASDA did not have the budget to develop rockets to send humans to the Moon, but had enough to launch probes to explore the solar system with whatever rockets they had. In the 1964 Scientific Satellite Symposium, during the development of the M-1A rocket, two flyby probes were proposed for Venus and Mars. These probes, known in development as "PLANET-A" and "PLANET-B," would share a common satellite bus with the Sakigake spacecraft, but with different solar panels (which used more complex folding mechanisms) and scientific instruments that were designed for only a few days of observation. Both probes (along with all future interplanetary probes) carried metal plates as counterweights, etched with the folklore character of Hatsune Miku. [context: this happened with our universe's Akatsuki probe in 2010, and is one of the inspirations for this whole project] 1969-01-12 - An M-1A launched the "Akatsuki" (Dawn) probe, or PLANET-A, to Venus. It was named as Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky at dawn, and would travel to Venus in four months. Smaller solar panels were used as more energy could be absorbed by a certain surface area closer to the Sun. 1969-04-17 - "Nozomi" (Wish/Hope), or PLANET-B, was launched to Mars on another M-1A. This used larger solar panels as it would go farther away from the Sun. The launch had to be timed correctly, as the inclination of Mars's orbit around the Sun differed more from the Earth's. Launching from Negishima (over 26 degrees north of the equator) required a dogleg maneuver to shift the inclination around the Earth to 24 degrees, and once in interplanetary space, there was another inclination difference of almost 2 degrees that needed a change in velocity of over several hundred meters per second. To minimize Delta-v, an off-plane transfer was required in which the spacecraft would depart Earth on April 17 and arrive at Mars over 10 months later after going past its orbit. 1969-05-14 - Akatsuki arrived at Venus, reaching the closest point (over 6000 kilometers) on May 15/16. The spacecraft observed the thick, featureless clouds blanketing the surface, and the high temperatures of around 500 K that remained mostly the same, even at night. Akatsuki at Venus (TUFX default config) 1970-02-23 - Nozomi arrived at Mars, making a small burn to intercept its closest moon of Phobos. It passed by the tiny asteroid moon for only a few seconds and almost 30 kilometers away on the next day, then went on to see Mars's barren, rusted, and cratered surface covered by a thin atmosphere, from as close as 3500 kilometers. Nozomi at Phobos Nozomi on the day side of Mars

1969-01-12 - M-1A launches the "Akatsuki" Venus flyby probe, Hatsunia's first spacecraft to visit another planet 1969-05-16 - Akatsuki makes its closest approach to Venus

Phase 2 - 12 1968-04-28 - Usagi-6, Hatsunia's first lunar orbiter, was launched on an M-1A. The third stage sent the spacecraft towards the Moon, but the probe needed to perform a correction maneuver about two days in, to redirect its trajectory so that it would pass over the poles. After almost four days, Usagi-6 reached a perilune of over 100 kilometers above the surface and decelerated by almost 800 m/s, becoming the first Hatsunese spacecraft to orbit another celestial body. Usagi-6 featured a variety of scientific instruments, including optical and infrared imaging devices to scan the surface and its temperatures. This would assist NASA with finding landing sites for the Apollo program, and inform HASDA as it had plans for robotic lunar landers once the M-1 launch vehicle had gotten another upgrade. The magnetometer was able to detect the faint magnetic field of the Moon, the distribution of which varied around the surface. Variations in the Moon's gravitational field caused by uneven mass concentrations were also detected. Using the parabolic antenna, all of this data could be transmitted at a higher rate compared to previous lunar probes. The six solar arrays were sufficient to power the spacecraft for several years before the cells decayed. (Meanwhile, in the previous year, Hatsunia had signed a treaty with other East and Southeast Asian countries to form the Mutual East Asian Cooperation Union [unlike Imperial Japan's "co-prosperity sphere," this had genuine intent]. The Hatsunese government had made English an official language to take advantage of its status as a lingua franca of business and science, and improve diplomatic and economic internationalization. The greater focus on English education would benefit computer programmers and the burgeoning software industry, as computers at this time did not have the capacity to store and display thousands of Chinese characters, known as kanji in Hatsunia.)

1968-04-28 - M-1A launches Usagi-6, Hatsunia's first lunar orbiter

1967-10-15 - M-1A launches Sakigake, Hatsunia's first probe in interplanetary space

Phase 2 - 11 1967-04-05 - M-1 launched "Denpa" (electromagnetic wave) to another highly elliptical orbit. Its primary instrument was a plasma wave detector to measure how Earth's magnetic field affects and creates waves in the rarefied ionized gas particles surrounding the planet. A quadrupole mass spectrometer used four parallel electrically charged rods to separate and distinguish ions of different masses and charges. 1967-07-08 (local) - Usagi-5, the third and final lunar impact probe, was launched by an M-1 and hit the crater of Timocharis. 1967-10-15 - "Sakigake" (pathfinder/pioneer) was Hatsunia's first interplanetary probe, launched by an M-1A. It was not destined for any planet or other body in particular, but was launched to an orbit between Earth and Venus and meant as a demonstration of long-range communications systems far away from Earth. The spacecraft also acted as observatory for the Sun, its magnetic field, the solar wind, and other space weather phenomena. This mission was the precursor to the first Venus and Mars flybys.

1967-01-25 - First launch of the M-1A rocket with the Neginohana-2 test satellite (edit: retconned from original)

Phase 2 - 10 [note: this post has been retconned - original rocket configuration here] To launch a human into space, HASDA needed a larger launch vehicle. The M-1A rocket featured the addition of two liquid rocket boosters (LRBs) using the same LE-04 engine (without vernier engines), a larger second stage using the upgraded LE-03B engine with a larger vacuum-optimized nozzle burning Aerozine-50 and nitrogen tetroxide, and a larger fairing that all had the same diameter as the first stage. The tanks used a lighter aluminum-copper alloy. This quadrupled the mass that could be carried to low Earth orbit from 700 to 2800 kilograms. The M-1A was thus nicknamed "Thor Heavy" or "Thor Multibody" in the United States. The original military purpose of the LE-04 liquid oxygen/kerosene engine was superseded by solid-fuel motors that were easier to store and didn't need to be fueled briefly before launch. However, the M-1A did not use solid rocket boosters (SRBs) unlike its American Thor-Delta counterparts, as they could not be stopped once ignited, unlike liquid-fuel rocket engines which were deemed safer for crewed missions. The LRBs had tanks that were 2 meters shorter than the central first stage to enable an earlier shedding of weight to increase performance (as the engines could not throttle), and decrease maximum acceleration to 9 Gs at booster separation, which was nearing the limit of what a trained person could handle without losing consciousness. The M-1A could also launch without boosters, with an LEO payload of 900 kilograms. The third stage used the LE-03 engine of the Negi-2A and 2B rockets same LE-03B engine instead of a solid motor for more flexibility in mission planning and operations. It could boost payloads up to 800 900 kilograms to geostationary transfer orbit, or 500 600 kilograms to the Moon. Conducting a flyby of Mars or Venus might also be possible. 1967-01-25 - The first M-1A lifted off carrying the Neginohana-2, a designation used for engineering test satellites. Neginohana-2 tested a new 2-meter-diameter satellite bus and parabolic dish communications system. The satellite was only launched to an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit, and did not have enough propellant to reach the circular geostationary orbit.